Most chess games of beginners and post-beginners are decided by fairly straightforward tactics. Anyone who wants to progress beyond this level and become a strong club player or a candidate master, needs to understand that somewhat mysterious-looking resource, the positional sacrifice. International Master Merijn van Delft has studied and loved positional sacrifices for as long as he can remember. This non-forcing tool is not just a surprising and highly effective way of creating a decisive advantage during a game. Positional sacrifices are also instruments of superior beauty. Van Delft has created a unique thematic structure for all types of positional sacrifices. He shows the early historical examples, explains which long-term goals are typical for each fundamental theme and presents lots of instructive modern examples. He then concentrates on those sacrifices that have become standard features of positional play. Solving the exercises he has added will further enhance your skills. Playing a positional sacrifice will always require courage. Merijn van Delft takes you by the hand and not only teaches the essential technical know-how, he also helps you to recognize the opportunities when to take the plunge. Mastering Positional Sacrifices is bound to become a modern-day classic.

In chess, sacrificing material is the most dramatic way to try to seize the advantage. Most sacrifices have a forcing aim in mind, but most profound of all are positional sacrifices where the end is impossible to foresee and thus fine judgment, understanding and intuition are required. Such sacrifices are usually a mystery to average players, but acclaimed author and grandmaster Mihai Suba explains the secrets of this technique in entertaining fashion.

Mastering Positional Chess is a serious, but entertaining chess instruction book. Daniel started writing it when he realized that his lack of positional understanding was causing him to lose many games.

Most competitive players are very familiar with the idea of a sacrificial checkmating attack, but the positional sacrifice has been strangely neglected. By means of a subtle positional sacrifice, a player can sometimes fundamentally alter the course of a game in his or her favor. In this instructive and entertaining book International Master Neil McDonald demonstrates just how effective well-executed positional sacrifices are. Topics covered include sacrifices to open lines for the pieces, sacrifices as a defensive weapon, the exchange sacrifice, the psychology of sacrifice and much more.

The 21st Century Edition of Spielmann’s Classic Work Austrian Grandmaster Rudolf Spielmann’s The Art of Sacrifice in Chess first appeared in the mid-1930s. It was immediately recognized as a classic, a masterpiece that examined the nature of chess sacrifices. In this modernized, 21st century edition, all of Spielmann’s original work has been preserved. The antiquated English Descriptive Notation has been replaced with modern Figurine Algebraic, and German grandmaster Karsten Müller has added his own notes to Spielmann’s original text. But the German grandmaster has gone far beyond simply inserting clarifying commentary. Müller has virtually doubled the size of the original work by adding eleven new chapters, including: The Greek Gift Sacrifice Bxh2/7+; Disaster on g7; The Achilles’ Heel f7; Strike at the Edge; Destroying the King’s Shelter; Sacrifices on f6; Sacrifices on e6; The Magic of Mikhail Tal; Shirov’s Sacrifices; and The Fine Art of Defense. There are exercises at the end of each new chapter to help you hone your skill of sacrificing. “Grandmaster Karsten Müller’s notes to the original text, along with the new material, brilliantly complements Spielmann’s classic work. A welcome addition to any chessplayer’s library...” – Garry Kasparov

Sacrifices are an essential part of chess. Those who never consider sacrificing will miss countless opportunities and find that promising positions repeatedly slip away. Players who do not appreciate their opponents' sacrificial possibilities will be unable to see danger signs, and find themselves on the wrong end of too many king-hunts. Rather than merely cataloguing the various possibilities and providing examples, LeMoir discusses the possible follow-ups to the sacrifices, the defensive options against them, and the positional factors that might suggest whether the sacrifice will be sound or unsound. There are many important types of chess positions that can only be played well by those who understand the thematic sacrifices that are possible.

Combines a theoretical and practical approach to sacrifice in the opening and middle game, providing examples and hints on developing, preventing, and retarding the sacrifice

lThe sacrifice is one of the most beautiful, rewarding and complex aspects of chess. During a game the decision to give up material in order to get an advantage is probably the most difficult one a player has to take. Often, you have to burn your bridges without being able to fully calculate the consequences. Risks and rewards are racing through your mind, fighting for precedence while the clock keeps ticking. Now is the moment, because after the next move the window for this opportunity may be closed. In this book Ivan Sokolov presents a set of practical tools that will help you to master the art of sacrifice. By concentrating on the aim you are trying to achieve, rather than on the opening you are playing or the piece you might be going to sack, he teaches you how to come to a reasonable risk assessment and how to trust your intuition. There is a separate part on seizing the initiative without actually giving up material. Ivan Sokolov has written an entertaining and instructive guide, packed with useful advice and lots of practical examples.

When a chess master finds a winning strategic idea it is seldom by accident. An amateur, staring at a position on the chess board is often fumbling in the dark, his head spinning with a multitude of general rules and vague notions. The master’s approach is concrete. He knows how and where to look, because he has studied the games of other masters. Sarkhan Guliev presents a wide range of strategic manoeuvres that have been repeatedly employed by great chess players. He shows how masters generate ideas from the games of other masters: positional sacrifices, amazing counterplay concepts, unorthodox exchanges, winning with h2-h4, overcoming a blockade, the advantages of double pawns, the e5 pawn wedge, the uses of the queen-bishop battery, and much more. After studying this book, chess amateurs will find winning strategic manoeuvres quicker and more often. They will not find them by accident or by relying on general principles, but because they have built up a large stockpile of highly practical ideas.

If you want to become a chess master, there are certain things you need to know – essential tips and techniques that the masters know, and you need to learn. This incredibly useful book collects all these techniques together in one volume, so you can try them out, tick them off, and start on your path towards chess greatness. Arranged in chapters covering every aspect of chess, from openings to endgames, renowned chess author Andrew Soltis provides top 20 rundowns of these specific positions and techniques: chapters include Top 20 Sacrifices, Top 20 Crucial Middlegame Decisions, Top 20 Endgame Techniques and Top 20 Exact Endgames. Written in Andrew Soltis's eternally engaging and accessible style, this book will prove invaluable to any player who wants to become a chess master.